Electronic devices installed in a vehicle have been increased significantly in their number and variety along with recent digitalization of vehicle parts. Generally, electronic devices may be used throughout the vehicle, such as in a power train control system (e.g., an engine control system, an automatic transmission control system, or the like), a body control system (e.g., a body electronic equipment control system, a convenience apparatus control system, a lamp control system, or the like), a chassis control system (e.g., a steering apparatus control system, a brake control system, a suspension control system, or the like), a vehicle network (e.g., a controller area network (CAN), a FlexRay-based network, a media oriented system transport (MOST)-based network, or the like), a multimedia system (e.g., a navigation apparatus system, a telematics system, an infotainment system, or the like), and so forth.
The electronic devices used in each of these systems are connected via the vehicle network, which supports functions of the electronic devices. For instance, the CAN may support a transmission rate of up to 1 Mbps and support automatic retransmission of colliding messages, error detection based on a cycle redundancy interface (CRC), or the like. The FlexRay-based network may support a transmission rate of up to 10 Mbps and support simultaneous transmission of data through two channels, synchronous data transmission, or the like. The MOST-based network is a communication network for high-quality multimedia, which may support a transmission rate of up to 150 Mbps.
Meanwhile, the telematics system and the infotainment system, as most enhanced safety systems of a vehicle do, require higher transmission rates and system expandability. However, the CAN, FlexRay-based network, or the like may not sufficiently meet such requirements. The MOST-based network, in particular, may support a higher transmission rate than the CAN or the FlexRay-based network. However, applying the MOST-based network to vehicle networks can be costly. Due to these limitations, an Ethernet-based network is often utilized as a vehicle network. The Ethernet-based network may support bi-directional communication through one pair of windings and may support a transmission rate of up to 10 Gbps.
Specifically, a vehicle network may comprise a plurality of electronic devices, a plurality of electronic control units (ECUs) for controlling the plurality of electronic devices, and at least one switch for controlling communications between the electronic devices and the ECUs. Also, an ECU (also referred to as ‘a first ECU’) connected to a switch among the plurality of ECUs in the vehicle network may detect link failures in the vehicle network by determining connection status between the plurality of ECUs. Further, the ECU connected to the switch among the plurality of ECUs in the vehicle network may detect link failures by using an algorithm for detecting synchronization errors between the plurality of ECUs and the plurality of electronic devices. In addition, in the vehicle network, the ECU may detect link failures by using an algorithm for detecting frame reception errors between the plurality of ECUs and the plurality of electronic devices.
It is a problem that different algorithms should be provided to the first ECU that detects link failures in the vehicle network in advance for detecting link failures. Accordingly, because a plurality of algorithms for detecting the link failures in the vehicle network are required, there is a problem that load is generated during the operation of the first ECU for detecting the link failures.